Yoko Ono Covers John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ on New Album

Yoko Ono has announced the impending release of a new album, Warzone, that finds her revisiting and re-imagining tracks she recorded from 1970 to 2009, with the addition of one cover song — a new take on her husband John Lennon’s iconic “Imagine.”

Warzone will be released Oct. 19. The 85-year-old Ono announced no plans to tour or otherwise promote the album.

The album's title track is a new version of the opening song from Ono’s 1996 album, Rising. You can listen to it below.

The inclusion of “Imagine” on Warzone comes at an appropriate time. Ono made headlines last year when the National Music Publishers Association awarded her a co-writing credit, more than 45 years later, on “Imagine,” as part of the association’s Centennial Song Award.

The NMPA made the decision after coming across an interview with Lennon in 1980, in which he said he took the concept and lyric for “Imagine” from Ono’s book Grapefruit, and that credit for the song should thus be shared between him and his wife.

“Those days, I was a bit more selfish, a bit more macho, and I sort of omitted to mention her contribution,” Lennon said in the interview.

October will also see the release of a new book, Imagine John Yoko, which covers the creation of Lennon’s 1971 album Imagine. Included in the book will be remembrances from more than 40 people who were close to the couple at the time, including the musicians who performed on the LP and friends like Dick Cavett and Sir Michael Parkinson.

Imagine John Yoko will be released Oct. 9, on what would have been Lennon’s 78th birthday. You can see the track listing for Warzone below.